They approached her grandfather's farmhouse. It was late in the evening and the sun perched over the land. It was a two-hour trip. The cow manure stench let her know that they were close. His farm spanned acres and crossed several interstate roads. Once they reached his land, they still had to drive ten minutes before they arrived at his house. Her mom drove with Julie in the passenger seat. Cole was next to Hope in the back. They left Friday night after taking a few days to recover, mentally and physically. Her dad and Cole's dad would meet them there tomorrow. Cole had his face buried in his viewer, reading. She had done the same on the way up.

They decided to spend the entire Thanksgiving week with her grandfather. They veered off the interstate and onto his gravel road. The car shook and pebbles ricocheted against the underside. Several tall trees surrounded his house. One of them was the willow tree they played on.

Her mom parked by his house and then they exited the car. Cows mooed and chickens clucked in the distance. She observed the massive property. Up close, the corn plants were tall mostly dark green with yellow tips sticking out of the top. But when seen from a distance with the sun hovering over them, the acres of corn were golden, and the rows disappeared.

It would be an unseasonably hot weekend, so her and Cole wore shorts and tank tops. A dog barked and scratched the back of her still raw calves. That hurt, but it was not the dog's fault. Her grandfather's canine was a ten-year-old basset hound.

"Max!" She twirled around, knelt, patted the dog on the head, and scratched behind his ears.

"Hey Max!" Cole put his viewer in his backpack and fell to the ground with him. Cole rolled around and played the same way Max did. He was excellent with dogs.

Her grandfather, an older man, with unkempt white hair and a white beard, followed Max. His screen door slammed shut. He wore a beige long-sleeve collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and faded blue jeans. There was fresh dirt and grass on his knees.

"Grandpa!" She screamed and ran into him. He hugged her with strong arms.

"How is my favorite grandkid?"

"I've been better."

She showed him her nicks and cuts.

He inspected her arms.

"This must hurt."

Then he knelt on the ground to be eye to eye with her.

"Your mom told me you two will be leaving us and heading to Mars."

"Yes. We're so excited. You should come with us."

"If I was younger, I would." He stared up at the sky and whispered to me, grinning, "Your grandmother would have loved it." He raised his voice to normal and said, "But I have responsibilities here and I'm not going to live forever. Just know that when you leave, I will miss you. You are destined for greatness and I expected nothing less from you and your mom."

Hope hugged him and added, "I still have to win."

"Well, I believe I can help you with that part."

He moved to her mom, Angie, and embraced her. Then he hugged Julie.

"How have you been?" Julie asked.

"Good. Bored." He glanced at the sky again with sad eyes. "Max has been here to cheer me up." He patted the top of Max's head.

"But Angie you know better than this." He pointed at Hope. "You grew up here." Then he held his hands in the air.

"Sorry. We didn't know they'd be doing this at school. As soon as I found out, she was much better prepared afterwards."

He shook Cole's hand, pulled him close, and gestured at Hope. He said, "If you're smart, you'll never let this one go. She's one in a billion."

Cole chuckled and replied, "I agree, sir."

"Hope tells me you need a hat like hers."

"Yes. I tried to find one in stores by us, but I could not."

"Well, we made the ones we use, and I had time to make an extra for you." He motioned toward the house and said, "I hope you like it."

"Name Jinx!"

He wore a tank top, which made it easier to pinch the most painful spot. He should have known better. She reached up to pinch him and he flinched. She paused because making him suffer increased her enjoyment. She faked him out again before doing it.

"Holy crap, that hurt." Cole yelled and massaged his redder skin.

"Watch your language," his mom said, insisting.

"Everybody swears," her grandpa said, "Let's go inside."

They entered his brick house with mahogany hardwood floors and white walls. He had family pictures on his walls. The largest one was over his dining table. It was a picture taken at their last reunion, four years ago.

"Is that cornbread?" She noticed the sweet fragrance of food cooking in the kitchen.

"I did my best to duplicate your grandma's recipe."

They sat down to a table filled with mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cornbread, stuffing, and a whole braised chicken in a stew with carrots and sliced potatoes.

"This is like a mini-Thanksgiving. I'm starving." Cole beamed and spooned large amounts of potatoes and stuffing onto his plate.

Hope could not wait either. She took a piece of cornbread and bit into it. The warm bread crumbled in her mouth. The salty and sweet combination made her think this could be the most amazing food she had ever tasted. Or she was starving, which made everything better. She did not recall eating the whole piece, but when she looked down it had disappeared. She craved more.

She took Cole's lead and loaded her plate with some of everything. She enjoyed the chicken and gravy the best. Yet, felt guilty because she liked chickens.

"Thanks, Dad for making all of this food," Angie said.

Hope said, "Thanks for dinner, Grandpa."

Cole and Hope finished eating first and were ready to go outside and keep learning.

"Can we go build a campfire?"

"Of course," he said, "Just don't burn anything down."
They strolled outside to the fire pit. The sun had set, and it was dark. The seating area was bigger than the last time. He had added more cement bricks on the outside. She tapped her foot against one of the fresher blocks, testing if it was wet.

Cole set the wood in the shape of a teepee. He rolled up an old newspaper section and placed it between the logs at the bottom. Then he sparked a match and lit the paper. They sat next to each other in chairs and took out their viewers to study. She finished reading the first book and began reviewing the recommended journal entries. She read the first article entitled "Perchlorate Dangers and How to Remove it from the Martian Soil."

She saw the page Cole read and stated, "Woah. You need to catch up. Do some of that super-fast speed reading you're capable of."

"I did that at the beginning. This is too cool and important to speed through. I want to know everything. I even researched other papers about similar subjects. When I'm done, no one will catch us," he said.

"Good. For us."

They read for half an hour by the light of the campfire. It was still warm outside, but it was cooling fast. She liked to stare at the fire and listen to the crackle of the wood. Cole got up and placed another log on it. An owl hooted in the background while a blood-thirsty horde of mosquitos and gnats hunted for a path through the heat and smoke.

"You said we would talk more when we had time, and if you can't tell, this looks like a good time." He grinned.

"Now, is the best time to talk about it." She moved her chair closer to him. Her gut reaction was to wait for a better occasion. Yet, she listened to Maria instead. She took his hand and said, "We have a lot to discuss. I wanted to wait until we didn't have to study. But we have time now."

Cole's mom came out through the patio screen door. "Did you two catch anything on fire, yet?"

Cole raised his eyebrows at Hope and chortled, "No, mom."

Julie chose a spot out of the smoke and across from them.

"I want to read the Perfect System, too. Can I get it on mine?" She held up her viewer.

"Yes. I'll show you how." Cole went by his mom.

Her grandfather and her mom strolled out by them. Hope's grandfather sat next to Hope and spoke, "When I first started farming, I did everything by hand and with tools. The same way they are teaching you. I was the fastest by hand and always had the best produce because I spent time caring for the land. But then the competition bought machines that did more than me, so to stay competitive I had to buy machines too."

He continued, "Another trick, you kids will not like to hear is, going to bed early and getting up early too. I'm exhausted from a hard day's work and I'm going to sleep." He yawned and motioned to them, "Good night everybody. I'm glad you made it here safely. These two need to wake up with me tomorrow morning."

He hugged Cole's mom and her mom.

Hope was drained too and could not keep her eyes open. They followed her grandpa into the house to the room they stayed in when visiting. It was her uncle's room when he was a kid.

They had two bathrooms in this house, which they used. They split up and showered at the same time. Then they met up int the bedroom they shared. Hope yawned. She laid on the right side of the king-sized bed. The pillows were cool and soft, which she liked. They smelled clean too. Cole laid down next to her. Both fell asleep after a few seconds.